Covici-Friede

Pascal Avram "Pat" Covici (1885–1964) was a Romanian Jewish-American book publisher and editor.

Pascal Avram Covici, known to his friends as "Pat," was born November 4, 1885 in Botoşani, Romania. He was the son of vintner Wolf Covici and Schifra Barish. At the age of twelve, his family immigrated to Chicago where his six brothers owned and managed a number of retail stores. He studied at the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago, but he did not graduate from either school. Afterwards, he worked at his brothers' stores.

For several years, he published a monthly newspaper in Bradenton, Florida. In 1922, together with partner Billy McGee, he started a publishing company and bookstore in Chicago. The store became a popular spot for writers, the company published special, limited edition books, often created for collectors. Ben Hecht's 1922 memoir, published by the firm, was labeled obscene and was restricted and confiscated by post office officials. Hecht, the illustrator Wallace Smith, and the publishers were arrested, pleaded no contest, and had to pay a fine of $1,000.

When McGee left the company in connection to health issues in 1924, Covici continued to publish under Pascal Covici, Inc. Several years later, he began a firm with Donald Friede in New York City. The play The Front Page by Hecht and Charles MacArthur and the novel The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall garnered the company quick success. The Well of Loneliness was seized from Covici-Friede's offices after Friede sold a copy to John Saxton Sumner of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice but the New York Court of Special Sessions cleared the book of charges of obscenity.

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